Ronnie Huneycutt and I just returned from two weeks ministering in Romania and Bulgaria and as always it was a life changing experience to travel abroad to share the word of God and try in some way to do what we could do to ease the suffering and hardships of the people we come to minister to. You know it is one thing to say Jesus loves you, but it totally different to show them that Jesus loves them. In all of this giving to the poor the Gospel message must be preached. Many people focus on feeding and clothing people (now this must also happen), but if you only feed and clothe people what you will have is well dressed, well fed people in hell. The word of God, the message of the cross, must be preached one on one from one heart to another heart not sung about or danced out, but preached word by word, line by line as the Holy Spirit gives us the revelation. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians, “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. 18For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:17-18) Sadly today in most churches not much preaching is done and why because it takes time before God to hear what the Spirit is saying it is easier to sing and dance your way to heaven (probably will not make it this way) than to allow God to work, through His dealings and judgments, in our lives.
As we were drinking coffee (the Bulgarian favorite pass time) one morning near the center of Silistra Ronnie talked about the dash. He was referring to the dash (as seen on grave stones) between our date of birth and our date of death. I wonder why we celebrate these dates we have nothing to do with them our birth is out of our control and to a large extent our death is out of our hands, but what we do during the dash foretells the destination of our eternal home. Then the LORD spoke to me and said, “you are in the in between times the time in between times of ministering the word to people.” What a revelation I was surprised. We think ministry only happens when we stand and speak, but not so. In God there must be a time of preparation: time before God in quiet and stillness, time in the word spent discovering the verses God would have you share to the people, and time spent talking and fellowshipping with people. As we drank the coffee we spoke with an Austrian couple who are making plans to move to Silistra and help Pastor(s) Emil and Niki. The conversation and fellowship was as rich as the coffee we drank, but at the same time sublime moments that resonated in our spirit that filled our mind and soul. As I was sitting there unbeknownst to Pastor(s) Niki and Emil, Ronnie, and the Australian couple God took me back to an in between time in Moldova. While in Chisinau I met a great man of God and special friend Pastor Romcia Hututui. Romcia was a kind and gentle man with great wisdom and inward strength. I had the pleasure of listening to him preach in Russian. I wish I could have understood each and every word, because his spirit thrilled my soul. Nelleia my translator did an outstanding job sharing his words, but the passion and fire that God has put within him was remarkable to witness. As we, Romica, Nelleia, and I, travelled over 950 miles in seven days, sharing the Word of God in Russian speaking churches many hearts were captured for Christ, even mine the more. But, as we travelled I kind of figured out what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 5:6, what we are filled with. And what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians when he said, “The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.” (I Corinthians 10:17) We are filled with “the communion of the body of Christ,” and THE bread, Christ, that satisfies us, strengthens us, and even gives us our very own life. We are partakers of this bread through communion with the Lord and through the communion with our brothers and sisters within the “Body of Christ.” Without communion with the Lord and our brothers and sisters in the Lord we have no place within the Body of Christ. What communion we had as we travelled mile after mile. What bread we shared. Romica broke off a piece of Christ and fed it to me and I did the same for him, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.” As we drove to the city of Floresti, Romica stopped and I bought some grapes. Moldova has the biggest and best tasting grapes in the world. After buying the grapes, we stopped by a well of water to clean the grapes. Romica dropped the bucket down the well and filled it with water after many turns the bucket was in sight full of cool sparkling water. Romica motioned to open the bag of grapes because he was about to pour the water into the bag and I was to agitate the bag so that the dirt would fall off. Great plan in theory, but we failed to consider the strength of the bag. As the bag filled with water the seams gave way and the water and the grapes spilled out onto the ground filling my shoes with water what communion we had we laughed so hard we cried tears of joy. This time with Romica at the well was an in between time before ministry. The in between times is always a time of preparation for our heart. Our heart condition must be dealt with by God before we can stand and share God’s word and during the in between times our heart is being worked on by God. Little do we know during these times God is searching our heart to find if there be any wicked way in us. What a powerful prayer David prayed in Psalms, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalms 139:23-24) It is during the in between times as we are alone with God in stillness or laughing with our friends God is searching our hearts. The in between time is also a time we feed Christ to each other. As Romica and I were cleaning the grapes or when Niki, Emil, Ronnie, the Australian couple, and I were drinking coffee we were doing more than cleaning grapes and drinking coffee we were sharing the goodness of the LORD with each other. With each smile and kind word spoken, with each offer to pay for the coffee, with each moment spent together in unity and harmony we were feeding the goodness of Christ to each other. Funny to know we can only feed what we have to give to someone. There is a divine spiritual principle that says a man cannot give what he does not have. How can we give love, joy, and peace if we do not have love, joy, and peace in us? If we are filled with anger, wrath, and hatred then we can only feed that to people. And even in the in between times we can feed these ungodly attitudes and character traits to people. This too is why God must search us so that He can reveal our hearts to us. Unless God can reveal our hearts to us, by His Spirit, we will never be able to feed Christ to others. The in between times is a time of our soul searching and reflection before God. In the times we are alone with God or even when surrounded by people we can take the time to step back (in our thoughts) from conversation and happenings of the moments to reflect on what our attitudes and heart condition is. Did you know you could be alone in a crowd of 1,000s? Your heart condition will detail your perspective. At these in between times our ability and responsibility in God to minister His word is measured and energized within us as we look deep into our soul not God searching us, but us searching ourselves. Our reflection and soul searching always leads to a great dependence on God. Jesus knew this secret the more dependent He was on His Father the more authority and power He possessed. We Christians today run around and say we have the power, but Jesus said He had no power. I think we Christians of today need to learn this secret of Jesus.
During the in between times in Bulgaria I learned two powerful maxims (individual bits of truth) that Niki Marksov shared with Ronnie and I. The first maxim was, “keep your doctrine close, but the Brethren closer” and the second was, “why do we share the good news of the Gospel like it is bad news?” WOW! The in between times a time of God searching our hearts, feeding Christ to each other, and time of soul searching and reflection. Now that is time well spent. Written by David Stahl
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